Venom
5: “Shiver part five”
Script: Daniel Way
Pencils: Francisco Herrera
Inks: Carlos Cuevas
Story: Are we sitting comfortably?
Then let the anticlimax begin. This series has been building and building
in to the definitive suspense thriller and are we going to be let down by
the end? Well sadly yes. This series see’s the continuation of the
infighting between Robertson and her rescued scientist friend, which is
very Thing like, we also see the return of “the suit” who has this
really handy ability to rebuild himself. Anyway after much running about
and accusing the three of them end up outside in the snow, which simply
leaves the question where is venom, oh look he’s behind you, he was the
scientist all along, oh how we laughed or rather not. Anyway to cut a long
story short venom takes over one of the huskies and does a runner and “the
suit” kills Robertson. Err anyone else a little disappointed?
The Good: The art was probably the
best its been s far, which is saying something and this “Suit” guy is
just ultimate comic book cool. However that’s where the good stops.
The Bad: …Because you see this issue
was a really big anticlimax. What they tried to do was finish it all in
one issue, and in doing so they kind of lost the plot literally. Because
one minute Robertson and the scientist are together and venom is somewhere
else last issue then all of a sudden, venoms the scientist. Confusing
stuff kids. Anyway the first half and in fact the majority of this is
boring speech bubbles which consist of “I’m sorry” and describing
away the end of the story. Well in the end venom escapes, as he must in
order to continue the series and for some reason “The suit” apparently
kills off the hero of this book, which to me made no sense. Sure I’ve
read worse but it just seemed that this book was going strong then kinda
fell off a cliff and got ravaged by wolves.
Rating: Anti-climaxed. 2 webheads out
of 5
Venom
4: “Shiver part four”
Script: Daniel Way
Pencils: Francisco Herrera
Inks: Carlos Cuevas
Story: So we rejoin our main character
Patricia Robinson trapped in a storeroom chained to Jackson, oh no wait
that’s venom, my mistake? So she escapes from venom and runs away only
to stumble into room full of what looks like symbiote with the rest of the
bases crew all tangled up inside, ala alien. Who is that standing behind
her? Venom who she promptly shoots with a grenade and does a runner,
probably her first smart move. That’s pretty much it for this issue
apart from her confronting the scientist and him doing a fantastic mime
act that clearly outrages Robertson who then threatens her with a gun?
The Good: I love the way this guy
draws venom its just really cool and glooby but more solid that the
sensational venom, really nice. I also like the way that as the series
progresses the corridors start to contain more and more black liquid,
which I’m taking to be venoms tentacles chocking the life out of this
base.
The Bad: The story is kind of short
and seems to forget what went of last issue as one-minute venom is killing
the suit and then he’s chained to Patricia Robertson. Also some of the
techniques used like the montage of mime effects by the scientist seem a
little weird and basically a waste of a page that could be used to tell us
what he learned instead of leaving us with an annoying cliff-hanger, what
the hell did he that was so irresponsible? For all this and more check out
venom 5 in stores ext month
Rating: Expect things to continue on
this level. 3 webheads out of 5
Venom
3: “Shiver part three”
Script: Daniel Way
Pencils: Francisco Herrera
Inks: Carlos Cuevas
Story: Venoms out of the shadows and
boy is he looking ugly. Venoms come out of hiding and is openly attacking
our main character Patricia Robinson, but all is not lost as the start of
this action packed issue shows. This issue introduces that mysterious
black suited agent as none other than… “the suit” who turns out to
be an indestructible, electronic based alien armed with a high power
conductor that works wonders when pointed at our big black bad guy. But
that’s not enough to save him, because soon after beating two of the
remaining humans unconscious and locking them in a cupboard, he is
enveloped and apparently destroyed by venom.
The Good: Finally this comic is
bringing out its own original ideas and moving away from its influences of
“the thing” and “alien”, but is this a good thing? Sure its killed
of the suspense they had going, which was one of the books best qualities
but all is not lost. If they can keep venoms lines to a minimum they may
be able to preserve the animal nature that they have built up around him.
The art was it usual good-looking self, dealing up a healthy dose of
gunshots and lightning effects.
The Bad: He spoke. Sure it was only a
couple of lines but venom still spoke, which featured some rather weak
dialogue with one of the best interactions being “you’re no better
than we are” “that is arguable” “wanna argue”. However it’s a
bit sad seeing this really good alien venom that they had built up being
turned it n to the typical wise cracking venom from the comics, but all in
all if you’re a venom fan this is still good stuff.
Rating: A slight drop but still good
stuff. 3 webheads out of 5
Venom
2: “Shiver part two”
Script: Daniel Way
Pencils: Francisco Herrera
Inks: Carlos Cuevas
Reviewed By:Groble
Story: Last issues cliff hanger turns
out to be just another in along line of this issues red herrings in which
the venom symbiote gets to have some crazy host swapping action that
leaves the readers wondering just who is infected by venom until the very
last page. This issue is filled with suspense and horror as the symbiote
jumps from character to character, leaving you wondering just who you can
trust. We also see the introduction of a mysterious agent who is tracking
down venom and seems strangely unaffected by the sub-zero temperatures of
the arctic.
The Good: It just gets better like I
said it would. This issue was in my opinion fantastic; it perfectly
blended ideas from the thing with pure paranoia inducing plot twists that
would be at home on 24. The cartoony art style is even beginning to grow
on me, as I especially liked the evil grinning venom face over the base,
which was used to great effect to show that the base was now well and
truly screwed. I loved this issue and hope the others can keep up the
goods.
The Bad: Other than whinging about the
art style (which is beginning to grow on me) being cartoony, I don’t
have much to say. It got a bit confusing when the shadowy figures where
busting in to everybody’s room but they added to the suspense. The one
thing I wasn’t too keen on thought was the new look super beefed up
venom on the last page.
Rating: Pure paranoia. 5 webheads out
of 5
Venom
1: “Shiver part one”
Script:
Daniel Way
Pencils: Francisco Herrera
Inks: Carlos Cuevas
Reviewed By:
Groble
Story: Something’s moving in the
frozen north, and I’m not talking penguins. Venom is back and mainly due
to the massive success of his feature in Ultimate Spiderman, but has
marvel fallen into the same old marketing trap by releasing any old
rubbish in order to cash in? We’ll have to wait and see. This issue
revolves around an army officer Robertson who journeys out from her base
to the near by radar station only to find that everyone apart from one
survivor has been viciously massacred, with the only clue being a
mysterious black ooze. She takes the survivor back to her base where the
rest of her soldier buddies pass the attack off as a polar bear, when
suddenly the survivor begins convulsing.
The Good: Where to start? For me this
was a great first issue, it blended perfectly influences like “The
thing” and the first alien film to create a comic that gives a different
spin on the whole Venom idea. The main thing that this comic has going for
it is the way in which venom is approached, other than the black ooze and
the cover venom is completely absent from this issue, and looking at the
failures of marvel in the past this is surely the way to go. On a whole
this is a good issue with a strong story that is aimed at being a good
story and not just the latest marketing vehicle for marvel, something that
could make it very special.
The Bad: The art doesn’t really seem
to fit in with this suspense thriller style comic, sure Herrera has done a
good job and I love his art, but I just feel this isn’t the place for
it. His style (which is reminiscent of time-splitters 2) is really to
cartoony to pull of the some pf the images needed for this comic, for
example the massacre of the radar station could have been a lot darker,
but it just felt too cartoony.
Rating: Good start but a bit cartoony.
4 webheads out of 5
